A couple of days before that, Cobb commissioners voted to pay for enhanced warning signs for the bridge.

The county said Wednesday that those electronic signs were in place when this truck’s too-large haul hit the top of the bridge.

The historic covered bridge, which carries traffic over Nickajack Creek, was renovated last fall. That took four months and $802,000 of SPLOST, Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax, funds.

This is an aerial view of the covered bridge near Smyrna that was struck Wednesday morning.
(Brett Barnhill via WSB-TV)

Crews during the makeover replaced the bridge’s decaying siding and shingles, added structural supports and repainted the classic tourist attraction.

Workers in 2009 installed metal beams, which look like a giant staple at the entrance of the bridge, to warn drivers of the seven-foot height limit, but the county reports that the bridge still gets hit about once a month.